Table of Contents July 2006

FEATURES

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  Commission (Im) Possible

  Dave Woodward of Laramar Communities chose to accept a mission that some think is impossible: He's in the early stages of switching to a commission-based pay structure for the company's leasing agents. The mission will be a dangerous one, full of daunting unknowns, twists and turns at every corner...

   
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  SPECIAL REPORT: Cause for Alarm

  Apartment building safety has improved steadily over the years, but those improvements–particularly regarding fires–have been won at the cost of many lost lives. "If you look at the fire code,, you can see [a number of] things that were put in place after major disasters, when people were more...

   

Cover Story

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  Rising Stars

  Some people catch the real estate bug early in life. Maybe their fathers or aunts or grandfathers were in the business. Or maybe they got a chance to work in construction or apartment management in college. For others, it's something they fall into after school or even further along in their...

   

FROM THE EDITOR

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  Time to Double Down?

  If the apartment industry was a gambler, he (or she) wouldn't want to move from the table where he's playing at the moment–he's on a roll. After several tough years, public multifamily companies this spring reported rising rents, falling concessions, and condo-related gains in 2006's first quarter.

   

CORNER OFFICE

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  Live to Serve

  Coming from a consumer marketing background, I've always been focused on building brands. The success of any brand depends on its reputation with consumers. For most products, that reputation is based on the product's appearance, taste, or performance. In our industry, it is based on our customers'...

   

NEWS + NUMBERS

Direct Reports

• A Question of Compliance

  First, there was Archstone-Smith, a REIT in Englewood, Colo. Then it was AvalonBay Communities, a REIT in Alexandria, Va., and Bozzuto and Associates, an apartment owner in Greenbelt, Md. But on April 27, the nonprofit Equal Rights Center (ERC) filed suit against its biggest apartment owner to...

   

PEOPLE + PLACES

Apartment Life

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  I.D. Check

  More than 10 million Americans fall victim to identity thieves each year, the Federal Trade Commission estimates, a number that has apartment firm owners and managers searching for ways to prevent identity theft from troubling their businesses and their residents.

   

Facelift

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  Bleak to Chic

  From the outside, the 26-story Skyline Towers looks identical to the 1950s and '60s stock of towering high-rises that surround this Northern Virginia apartment community. But on the inside, this project is anything but just one of the pack, thanks to an extreme makeover which masterfully gave this...

   

Corporate Ladder

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  Money Man

  Just when it looked like Michael May had tried almost everything during his 23 years at Freddie Mac, a golden opportunity fell into his lap as the Next Great Challenge: He was named senior vice president, multifamily sourcing for the financing giant, marking his first official foray into the...

   

SALES + SOLUTIONS

New Developments

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  Fuel the Need

  For 60 years, the 0.62-acre site off a busy road in the Bronx was a Shell gas station. Soon it will house hundreds of people in a seven-story, 120,000-square-foot apartment building with a Staples store on the ground level.Woodmere, N.Y.-based Arker Cos. started construction on the$27 million...

   

Done Deal

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  Cash Crunch

  Jim Hurley, portfolio manager for the California State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTRS and one of the largest pension funds in the country, seems anxious. With cap rates below 4 in some markets (an indicator of high apartment prices) and interest rates rising, CalSTRS and other...

   

Tech Specs

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  Automatic Savings

  When United Dominion Realty Trust started automating the purchasing and invoicing for maintenance supplies in 2003, the Richmond, Va.-based REIT projected that it would save about $152,000 in the first year, after paying to deploy the technology. Even though it conducted a detailed ROI analysis...

   

PRODUCT STUDIO

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  Extraordinary Borders

  Whether it's GQ or Vogue magazine, the message is almost always the same: Accessories make the look. That's also a good way to see how decks, fencing, and railings function on a multifamily building. They're the accessories, the little extras that can take a project from good to great.

   

LANDMARKS

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  Packard Motor Car Building Apartments

  The turn of the 20th century was a time of progress and prosperity for the City of Brotherly Love. Manufacturing plants blossomed and mass transit was in full swing. Philadelphia's famed Broad Street bustled with activity of all sorts, most notably automobile manufacturing. The street became known...